Do not know if this has been extensively covered, and if it has I am sorry. I am new to the forum and cannot exactly find the search button, which I know is many peoples pet peeve.

But baking soda is almost as multiuse as you can get. You basically remove all of your sanitation needs if you bring it. Mixed with a little bit of hydrogen peroxide you make your toothpaste, mix it in some water and rinse/swish you destroy bad breath, use for deoderant just as a powder, antacid, make into a paste for bug bites, hand soap in a 3:1 ratio of water to baking soda, clean all of your utensils and pans (all 1 pot and 1 utensil for some of you :D ), deoderize basically anything, and the last thing my mind and my research can think of is extinguishing any fires. Apparently it can do that.

My family being one with many pets, I can personally attest to how well it works as a deodorizer, also have used it as a toothpaste and it works well and doesn't taste half bad, even better with some mint oil as previously suggested.

Now being that it is so multi-use how much do you think would be enough to carry? I mean you would be using it to wash dished, as a deoderant, soap, tooth paste, help your bug bites and rashes so it would seem pretty heavily used.

Now although I am only in the learning part of UL hiking, I feel like this would be something I would sacrifice weight for as I can use it for so much. Mostly it cuts down on complication if I can use one thing to do many things, less stuff, even if it were to weigh more.

If you can believe wikipedia (I do take their stuff with a grain of salt), baking soda definitely does occur in nature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

"Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. The natural mineral form, nahcolite, is found in dissolved form in bile, where it serves to neutralize the acidity of the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach, and is excreted into the duodenum of the small intestine via the bile duct. It is also produced artificially.

"Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda. In colloquial usage, its name is shortened to sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning aerated salt, was widely used in the 19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate. The term has now fallen out of common usage."

While it is cheaper to produce baking soda artificially, there are natural deposits where it is mined:

"Naturally occurring deposits of nahcolite (NaHCO3) are found in the Eocene-age (55.8–33.9 Ma) Green River Formation, Piceance Basin in Colorado. Nahcolite was deposited as beds during periods of high evaporation in the basin. It is commercially mined using in-situ leach techniques involving dissolution of the nahcolite by heated water that is pumped through the nahcolite beds and reconstituted through a natural cooling crystallization process."

Just for fun, here are 60 uses of baking soda: http://www.i4at.org/lib2/60soda.htm

Since tomorrow is July 4, how about celebrating the occasion? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqEK5ECcsDo

I started a thread, here, sometime ago (2 years ago ?) about baking soda. As the thread evolved members kept adding uses , to the point that someone had to poke some fun at us (and rightly so...)For some reason, possibly I had baking soda in my coffee instead of sugar, I took offence to that.Later I realised how silly it was but left the comment just to prove that I get cranky too.BTW, if you rub some baking soda paste into your belly button, it will instantly remind you not to take one self too seriously.Works for me.Franco

Baking soda used as a body deodorant can lead to rash as it's PH can irritate, especially after repeated use.

I think I read that baking soda is no longer considered a good option for stomach problems. If I remember correctly it can relieve stomach upset temporarily, but can lead to more stomach upset later on when the stomach counteracts the PH imbalance.